In the frame of our first report about the French insurance market published in the beginning of 2008, we warned that the French government deficit and debt levels could represent a threat for the country’s economy. This was well before the financial crisis hit the European continent and its impacts on public spending. Now the problem has worsened, and even though France is still not directly fingered - as is the case for Portugal, Spain, and Italy following the Greek and Irish governments’ debt crises - the situation remains alarming.

We recently asked French insurers CIOs to tell us their feeling about their industry’s near future and more importantly whether they felt some macro-economic factors were impacting their business and growth prospect in the mid to long-term. Some of them mentioned that the French government was in serious need for more financial resources and would try sooner or later to tap savings accumulated by the French population.